Call Number:

PA.154

Repository:

Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Extent:

1.87 cubic ft. (6 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item or series here], May Virginia Bassett Little photograph albums, PA 154, Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College.

Date:

1923-2015 (inclusive)

Creator:

Little, May Virginia Bassett, 1913-1994

Abstract:

In the 1980s, May Virginia Bassett Little (1913-1994) created a series of family scrapbooks accompanied by short memoirs and excerpts from her diaries. Her father was a birthright Quaker, and the family had deep roots in Swarthmore College and the Borough of Swarthmore. Her husband, Ralph V. Little, Jr., (1909-2001), also was raised in Swarthmore. Their son, Donald Townsend Little, continued his mother's interest in autobiography and compiling family history. This collection contains detailed family photo albums.

May Virginia Bassett Little was born March 10, 1913, and died Sept. 4, 1994. She was the daughter of Dr. Arthur E. Bassett (1886-1951), a dentist and prominent Swarthmore, Pa., resident, and Vernon Rose (Waddell) Bassett (1887-1955).

Arthur E. Bassett was the son of Franklin Lippincott Bassett (1855-1929) and Anna Elgar (Hallowell) Bassett, Philadelphia Quakers. Anna was the daughter of John Elgar Hallowell (1838-1856) and Anna Wilson Townsend (1836-1878). John Elgar Hallowell was the son of Benjamin Hallowell (1799-1877), renowned Quaker educator. Anna Wilson Townsend was the daughter of Edward Townsend (1807-1896), a Philadelphia Quaker dentist involved in the education of African-Americans, prison reform, and a school for the blind. He served as warden of Eastern State Penitentiary in 1870-1881.

Franklin Bassett graduated from Swarthmore College in 1876 and practiced dentistry in Philadelphia. The family transferred their memberships from Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (Hicksite) to Swarthmore Monthly Meeting in 1895 and lived on 513 Walnut Lane. In 1914, the family removed to Salem Monthly Meeting. N.J. Anna Bassett returned to Swarthmore Monthly Meeting in 1949 and died in the Hickman Home in West Chester.

Vernon Rose Waddell (1889-1955) was the daughter of James A. Waddell and May Virginia Rose. Her mother died in 1895, and Vernon first lived with her mother's parents and sister at 422 Harvard Avenue, Swarthmore, and subsequently with her mother's other sister, Vernon (Rose) Geddes who lived across the street at 417 Harvard. Vernon and her husband, Frank H. Geddes raised her namesake as their own daughter. Their son, F. Bramwell Geddes, married Vernon Waddell Bassett's cousin, Alice Worth. Vernon Waddell attended Swarthmore College in the Class of 1912 and married Arthur Bassett in 1910. Alice Worth Geddess graduated in the Class of 1908, and her husband, F. Bramwell Geddess, was in the Class of 1905.

While Arthur Bassett remained a member of the Society of Friends until his death in 1951, Vernon, who had been raised a Baptist, became a member of Swarthmore Presbyterian Church. Vernon and Arthur Bassett moved to 307 N. Chester Road in 1916, where they lived the remainder of their lives.

The extended Swarthmore family also included Vernon's uncle, Herbert T. Bassett, and his wife Mary Ramsay Bassett (Swarthmore Class of 1912) who lived in the Ramsay family home on North Chester Road. Virginia's sister, Barbara, married David West Cochrane. He was the long-time clerk of the Swarthmore Camera Shop.

Virginia Bassett married Ralph V. Little, Jr. (1909-2001) in 1937. An electrical engineer, he was the son of Ralph V. Little and Helen Druary Little who also lived in Swarthmore and were members of the Swarthmore Presbyterian Church. Ralph graduated from Penn State University in 1933 and worked for RCA in Camden. Virginia and Ralph lived in Swarthmore for fifteen years and had three children: Donald Townsend, Shirley, and Janet. They moved to Ohio in 1957. In 1974, they moved to Central Pennsylvania, and in 1985, to a retirement home in Blue Bell, Pa.

This collection contains detailed family photo albums.